Curbing Corruption in the Public Procurement Process in Ghana

Abstract

Public procurement is perceived to be susceptible to corruption from project inception to completion. There is ample evidence across the world that corruption hinders economic development; reduces social services; diverts investments in infrastructure and social services and impacts the poor disproportionately

The study assesses the perceptions of procurement professionals; specifically practicing quantity surveyors on the existence of corruption in the procurement process and also establishes the stages in the procurement process fraught with corrupt practices. A survey research design was employed and purposive sampling technique adopted. Descriptive statistics, relative importance index and one sample t-test were adopted in analyzing the data. This research results confirmed the perception that corruption exists in public procurement in Ghana. It also revealed that the public procurement law is contributing immensely in curbing corruption. The study further revealed that corruption is more prevalent at the tender evaluation stage of the procurement process.

Keywords: Corruption, Ghana, Public Procurement, Procurement processes, Susceptible.